Paramedical Education to ECMO with Simulation Training : a Security Challenge

The Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a circulatory support, which is increasingly used in management of patient with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in medical intensive care units. This complex and potentially risky approach is particularly demanding for the nursing teams and requires specific skills. Therefore, it seems essential to implement formal paramedical staff training. Simulation is a rapidly growing learning tool in healthcare. This learning method clearly improves technical and behavioural skills in a safe environment without risk for the patient. The implementation of a simulation training program cannot be extemporized and requires many resources. However, the method has real benefits for the implementation of specific and innovative techniques. Our aim is to describe the experience of paramedical education program to ECMO with simulation training in medical intensive care in the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire of Angers (France).